I just beat this game last night so here are my thoughts:

Very solid metroidvania, with a decent story. I've been introduced to the Record of Lodoss series before via OVA but never looked further into it (other games and media). I won't say that playing this has inspired me to do that, but it's a good experience for what it's worth and I can tell a lot of work went into making this.

First off, the combat is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The positives are that the movement abilities you get along with the variety of weapon types, and number of weapons themselves is pretty huge. There are a number of weapons that are Easter Eggs to the series as a whole and some which are references to Team Ladybug's other titles. Weapons are split into two categories, swords and bows (even though sword technically is any weapon that isn't a bow including a chakram or a spear, or even a chainsaw . The weapons (mostly) attack differently too, from overhead swings, to stabs, toe slashes, so changing weapon types can benefit you if the current weapon you use doesn't seem to get the job done. Bows on the other hand implore more subtle changes like firing more than one arrow, being able to fire faster, or elemental damage. These are all great as you can choose to play the game with whatever tactic works best for you. The not so great is that most weapons are effectively useless once you get one weapon or the other. That's to be expected as you progress yes, but there are certain points in the game where you can get weapons that are objectively better than anything you might find after them. That means that even though you're weak, your arsenal could mean a game that is far easier than it, to a degree already is.

While I'm on that, let's talk about difficulty. For someone like me, the quest becomes "How easy is it for me to grind a couple of levels above what's necessary for the next boss or even the next area?" I'm that kind of guy when it comes to these and other RPGs. I like walking into a boss room and walking out seconds later as if I had a stern talking with them instead. Sometimes this isn't possible, and that's fine; I don't always have to play that way. But for someone who isn't like me, this game is still relatively easy to manage. Aside from bosses, most enemies early only really don't attack you "in-time" before you kill them. This isn't to say thjat they're pushovers however, as plenty of enemies in the game can screw up your progress or even stunlock you into oblivion should you take them too lightly, but a lot of enemies, especially with a decent weapon in hand, become little more than a physical obstacle in the face of you just spamming attacks or arrows or magic (which is another thing that this game has).

I died a total of maybe 10 times, most of which were from a boss until I learned his pattern and proceeded to curb stomp him, and once from being stunlocked at the worst possible time in a room full of enemies. Other than those, I breezed through this game like a summer wind. Bosses can prove hard to manage if you're not careful but even they are mostly cheesed by the silliest things. It wasn't too difficult for me, but the bosses could still be a threat to the unweary. I know it seems like I'm ragging on the game but trust me, the cons are not as high as the pros. The weakness system is actually pretty straight forward too when you stop thinking about them as dice and just numbers. Overall, combat is enjoyable I just wish that, in regards to how many weapons there are in the game, there were more useful things to do with them (maybe puzzles that can only be solved with a specific weapon or weapon type; though there are technically bow puzzles, but I'll get to that). As a contrast, enemies do vary greatly in look and attacks, despite my earlier comment. Again, you really should be able to kill most of them before they have the chance to really show off their moves but if you actually SEE some of their moves, it's deadly stuff. It's like "Are you curious to know what this enemy does?", or "Do you want to make it to the next save room?"

As i said the, uh, "story", is passible. Deedlit, the protagonist, was one of the heroes of the Lodoss War long ago. She awakens in this strange place and finds her old friends as well as her lover, Parn, whom she chases after in the maze while trying to figure out why she's there or what the place is. There's a lot of name-dropping and cameos of characters from the series that I'm sure fans will know and enjoy, but for me, I honestly did not know what was going on. Not like, confused, just unengaged. Like if you didn't know anything about the series before, this wasn't going to be your introductory course into it. I'd say it could spark interest if you loved the game enough to check it out, but outside of that spark, there is no explanation of who the characters are, their importance to the story, the lore of the world itself; none of that. You get your necessary evils of what you can do and what to "look for" but this is no, "I'm from a fabled line of Vampire slayers and I've come to destroy Dracula and end his reign of terror on Humanity." Again, this isn't a knock on the game but what your motivations are as a character are not really there. You just kinda end up here and need to find a way out but also you're not sure where "here" is, so you look around.

There are other things this game offers. A gambling mini-game, as well as an Archery mini-game, some "challenges" to unlock a few weapons and a Boss rush mode for the absolute over-achiever. The mini-games can range in enjoyment. I beat the archery mini-game and I was staring like a crazied zebra at the screen all the while doing it. I touched the gambling mini game once and if you're good, you can win big money, but there's no achievement for stacking cash and by the later half of the game, buying up all the items at the shop is child's play with some enemies dropping really good money. I farmed a handful of enemies back to back in the same room for about 10-15 minutes and was already 20k richer. The weapons that require a certain thing to unlock really were not at all difficult, just time-consuming, but I'll, be honest, I'm not sure what challenges could have been made that wouldn't have frustrated someone. Like I said, they're there for you if you're looking to vary your experience but are not necessary. Along with the that, the bestiary can be completed as well as a list of all weapons, and magic in the game. Getting 100% for these is also not too hard but it's definitely not worth it if you're not someone who likes to grind.

Last thing I'd touch on is the soundtrack. It's pretty good. music for different areas seem to convey their environment pretty well, bosses all share the same song (except the final boss) but it's not a bad track to hear on repeat. Not the most groundbreaking sounds but the music, along with the sound design work well. That's pretty much it. a good game that isn't too fancy but it's pretty fun and I enjoyed the time I spent on it (except that archery mini-game; ♥♥♥♥ archery). A recommend for any metroidvania fan out there.

I just beat this game last night so here are my thoughts: Very solid metroidvania, with a decent story. I've been introduced to the Record of Lodoss series before via OVA but never looked further into it (other games and media). I won't say that playing this has inspired me to do that, but it's a good experience for what it's worth and I can tell a lot of work went into making this. First off, the combat is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The positives are that the movement abilities you get along with the variety of weapon types, and number of weapons themselves is pretty huge. There are a number of weapons that are Easter Eggs to the series as a whole and some which are references to Team Ladybug's other titles. Weapons are split into two categories, swords and bows (even though sword technically is any weapon that isn't a bow including a chakram or a spear, [spoiler] or even a chainsaw [/spoiler]. The weapons (mostly) attack differently too, from overhead swings, to stabs, toe slashes, so changing weapon types can benefit you if the current weapon you use doesn't seem to get the job done. Bows on the other hand implore more subtle changes like firing more than one arrow, being able to fire faster, or elemental damage. These are all great as you can choose to play the game with whatever tactic works best for you. The not so great is that most weapons are effectively useless once you get one weapon or the other. That's to be expected as you progress yes, but there are certain points in the game where you can get weapons that are objectively better than anything you might find after them. That means that even though you're weak, your arsenal could mean a game that is far easier than it, to a degree already is. While I'm on that, let's talk about difficulty. For someone like me, the quest becomes "How easy is it for me to grind a couple of levels above what's necessary for the next boss or even the next area?" I'm that kind of guy when it comes to these and other RPGs. I like walking into a boss room and walking out seconds later as if I had a stern talking with them instead. Sometimes this isn't possible, and that's fine; I don't always have to play that way. But for someone who isn't like me, this game is still relatively easy to manage. Aside from bosses, most enemies early only really don't attack you "in-time" before you kill them. This isn't to say thjat they're pushovers however, as plenty of enemies in the game can screw up your progress or even stunlock you into oblivion should you take them too lightly, but a lot of enemies, especially with a decent weapon in hand, become little more than a physical obstacle in the face of you just spamming attacks or arrows or magic (which is another thing that this game has). I died a total of maybe 10 times, most of which were from a boss until I learned his pattern and proceeded to curb stomp him, and once from being stunlocked at the worst possible time in a room full of enemies. Other than those, I breezed through this game like a summer wind. Bosses can prove hard to manage if you're not careful but even they are mostly cheesed by the silliest things. It wasn't too difficult for me, but the bosses could still be a threat to the unweary. I know it seems like I'm ragging on the game but trust me, the cons are not as high as the pros. The weakness system is actually pretty straight forward too when you stop thinking about them as dice and just numbers. Overall, combat is enjoyable I just wish that, in regards to how many weapons there are in the game, there were more useful things to do with them (maybe puzzles that can only be solved with a specific weapon or weapon type; though there are technically bow puzzles, but I'll get to that). As a contrast, enemies do vary greatly in look and attacks, despite my earlier comment. Again, you really should be able to kill most of them before they have the chance to really show off their moves but if you actually SEE some of their moves, it's deadly stuff. It's like "Are you curious to know what this enemy does?", or "Do you want to make it to the next save room?" As i said the, uh, "story", is passible. [spoiler] Deedlit, the protagonist, was one of the heroes of the Lodoss War long ago. She awakens in this strange place and finds her old friends as well as her lover, Parn, whom she chases after in the maze while trying to figure out why she's there or what the place is. [/spoiler] There's a lot of name-dropping and cameos of characters from the series that I'm sure fans will know and enjoy, but for me, I honestly did not know what was going on. Not like, confused, just unengaged. Like if you didn't know anything about the series before, this wasn't going to be your introductory course into it. I'd say it could spark interest if you loved the game enough to check it out, but outside of that spark, there is no explanation of who the characters are, their importance to the story, the lore of the world itself; none of that. You get your necessary evils of what you can do and what to "look for" but this is no, "I'm from a fabled line of Vampire slayers and I've come to destroy Dracula and end his reign of terror on Humanity." Again, this isn't a knock on the game but what your motivations are as a character are not really there. You just kinda end up here and need to find a way out but also you're not sure where "here" is, so you look around. There are other things this game offers. A gambling mini-game, as well as an Archery mini-game, some "challenges" to unlock a few weapons and a Boss rush mode for the absolute over-achiever. The mini-games can range in enjoyment. I beat the archery mini-game and I was staring like a crazied zebra at the screen all the while doing it. I touched the gambling mini game once and if you're good, you can win big money, but there's no achievement for stacking cash and by the later half of the game, buying up all the items at the shop is child's play with some enemies dropping really good money. I farmed a handful of enemies back to back in the same room for about 10-15 minutes and was already 20k richer. The weapons that require a certain thing to unlock really were not at all difficult, just time-consuming, but I'll, be honest, I'm not sure what challenges could have been made that wouldn't have frustrated someone. Like I said, they're there for you if you're looking to vary your experience but are not necessary. Along with the that, the bestiary can be completed as well as a list of all weapons, and magic in the game. Getting 100% for these is also not too hard but it's definitely not worth it if you're not someone who likes to grind. Last thing I'd touch on is the soundtrack. It's pretty good. music for different areas seem to convey their environment pretty well, bosses all share the same song (except the final boss) but it's not a bad track to hear on repeat. Not the most groundbreaking sounds but the music, along with the sound design work well. That's pretty much it. a good game that isn't too fancy but it's pretty fun and I enjoyed the time I spent on it (except that archery mini-game; fuck archery). A recommend for any metroidvania fan out there.